June 17 (SeeNews) - Italian PayTech company Nexi said on Friday that it reached an agreement with Croatia's Privredna Banka Zagreb (PBZ), a subsidiary of Italian banking group Intesa Sao Paolo (ISP), and its payment cards unit PBZ Card to purchase PBZ Card's merchant acquiring business for a consideration of 180 million euro ($189 million).
“As a result of this transaction, Nexi strengthens its relationship with its long‐term partner ISP and consolidates its position as the European PayTech leader in merchant services through an increase in the operational scale of merchant acquiring activities, Nexi said in a statement.
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PBZ Card's merchant acquiring business is the market leader in Croatia, with about 13,000 merchants which, in the 12 months from March 2021 to March 2022, generated a total transaction volume of some 5 billion euro. The transaction is with an implied 2022E EV/EBITDA multiple of about 10.5x.
Listed on Euronext Milan, Nexi signed the deal via Croatian company Nets CEE, part of Nexi Group and a subsidiary of German financial services group Concardis Holding.
“The agreement provides for a long‐term partnership among Nets CEE, PBZ Card and PBZ Bank for the marketing and distribution of Nexi products in the Croatian market,” according to the statement.
This transaction is substantially in line with the broader multi‐year partnership between Nexi Group and ISP Group in the Italian merchant acquiring space, which has started through the acquisition of the Italian merchant acquiring business owned by ISP on June 30th 2020, according to the statement.
The completion of the transaction, expected by the end of 2022, is subject to regulatory approvals, including Nets CEE obtaining a license to operate as a payment institution in Croatia and the approvals from the Croatian and Serbian antitrust authorities.
($ = 0.951 euro)
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